Romans Chapter 3 - Universal CorruptionMan's Corrupt Character - Part 1

No one understands (the things of God) (v. 11)




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Romans 3: 10-11 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands..."

What, no one? What was all that communicating with Israel about, then? Why do we have the Word of God if we don’t understand it? How can there be teachers and preachers of righteousness without understanding?

First of all, it means that no natural (unregenerate) man understands the things of God…

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. {1Corinthians 2:14 AV}

This is evident from both our personal experience and our interaction with the world.

There was a time when the Bible was a dreadfully dull and dreary book to you. It was dense, uninteresting, opaque and utterly irrelevant to your life. You were unregenerate. You were unable to see the beauty and truth in it. You could not see them because you could not see Christ. You could not see Him because you did not know Him. The fact that you could not see Christ was not due to Him being secreted away. He was simply not in you at the time. It is still the same book today as it was then. The same wisdom and truth is writ large upon its pages. It was due to your utterly depraved heart being spiritually dead and unwilling to see Him because you loved only your sin. All men are like this, without exception.

Now that you are born again (one hopes) you take your light into the world. What do you see when you preach the gospel? Eyes cloud over. People get suddenly busy. They become evasive or even hostile. They are too occupied with loving themselves and their sin to see Jesus in you preaching to them. Whenever a person actually responds favourably it is due entirely to the operation of the Holy Spirit, Who draws people to Christ – often through the message you have been delivering, but also as a conclusion to a myriad of other things to which you are not privy.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. {1Corinthians 3:6}

Do you believe that people universally hate the gospel of Christ because they are enemies of God? Do you believe that it is God alone Who draws them, through whatever means He is pleased to use? Do you believe that, if He did not do so, then no one would be saved because no one understands the things of God? If not, see the next lament…